Building a Healthy Workplace

FMI Workshop

Building a Healthy WorkplaceWhere Does Mental Health fit in?

Scott Aylwin

Senior Director, Covenant Health

Addiction & Mental Health

May 17, 2017

Why should you care?

The Stats – Oh, the stats!

1:5 annual

1:3 lifetime

Whether you choose to address it or not,

it’s already in your workplace

Why should you care?

Social burden Financial losses

$$$$$$$...∞

Absenteeism & Presenteeism

WHO data

Reasons for referrals to EAP

Psychological – 40%

Marital issues – 20%

Family issues – 15%

Stigma –

How are we doing?

Remember these?

Essential Messages about Mental

Health

Thankfully, the times are

a changin’

The mental health

equivalent is the shift

from denial, silence and

shame

BELL - “Let’s Talk!”

and events like today

Essential Messages about Mental

Health

“Us” versus “Them”

“Us” versus “Them”

Essential Messages about Mental

Health

It’s easier than you think

to be an ambassador for

mental health

• Ask a question instead of

knowing everything

• Don’t chime in with gossip

• Be less judgemental

• Don’t be tolerant, be inclusive

Essential Messages about Mental

Health

You might never get to

see the impact of your

invitation

That’s OK

Building a Healthy Workplace

© City of Edmonton

Psychological Health and

Safety in the Workplace

A New Way to do Business

© City of Edmonton

What is the PH&S in the Workplace Standard?

Traditionally, employers have focused on controlling physical, chemical

and biological hazards in the workplace to maintain the physical health

and safety of their employees.

Today, we are looking at psychological safety as the next step

Depression will rank second only to heart disease as the leading cause

of disability worldwide by the year 2020

This is a voluntary CSA Standard

• We want the City of Edmonton to continue to shine as a top

employer in Alberta and Canada

© City of Edmonton

“A Good Place to Work”

% Employees who would recommend as a good place to work

National Average vs 2009 National PHWA

Winners

© City of Edmonton

National Average vs 2009 National PHWA Winners

Less Stress

• % employees reporting chronic

work stress

– 39% to 25%

• % employee turnover

– 39% to 11%

Higher Satisfaction

• % employee satisfaction

– 61% to 85%

Lower Turnover

• % of employees intending to

seek employment elsewhere

– 32% to 5%

A psychologically healthy workplace helps keep workers safe, engaged

and productive

© City of Edmonton

1.Psychological support

2.Organizational Culture

3.Clear Leadership and

Expectations

4.Civility and Respect

5.Psychological job fit

6.Growth and Development

7. Recognition and Reward

8. Involvement and Influence

9. Workload Management

10. Engagement

11. Balance

12. Psychological Protection

13. Protection of Physical Safety

© City of Edmonton

The 311/ Inside Information call centre

• Established Wellness Committee

• Actively advocate wellness

• Mix of shift workers and 9-5er’s

• Some union involvement

• All supervisors there have MHFA

• Small size (300 employees) and central location make it

easier for communication

• The role of a call centre is innately stressful

© City of Edmonton

Step One: The Ground Work

• Endorsement needed from upper management as well

as supervisors in the area

• Communication of the plan to staff

• Create an Action Team in the area

• Make a video explaining the survey

• Share survey results with management and staff

© City of Edmonton

Establishing the Action Team

As part of the Action Team

• On-Site management need to be champions for

change, advocating the importance of PH&S

• Attend meetings with employees

• Help the Project Managers (Pam and John) customize

interventions to fit the employees

• Maintain a connection between Project Managers and

Employees

© City of Edmonton

What is Guarding Minds@Work?

A free set of tools including a 10- minute survey from

Great West Life

• Measure all 13 factors in the workplace

• Identify risks to PH&S in the workplace

• Measure the severity of these risks

• Suggest workplace actions to reduce these risks

• The survey can be completed again as a post test to

evaluate the effectiveness of our actions

© City of Edmonton

GM@W Dashboard of Survey Results

© City of Edmonton

Moving from Survey to Focus groups

Included in the survey are questions around:• Experiencing discrimination in the workplace because of

cultural/ethnic background, disability, sexual orientation, gender or

age.

• Bullied or harassed, either verbally, physically or sexually in the

workplace

Focus groups are now being used to gather staff feedback

with a focus on the three areas which had the lowest

scores on the survey

© City of Edmonton

Next Steps

• Meeting with management to describe the issues we want to focus

on with an action plan

– Challenges explained with solutions ready

• Some issues may require additional training for staff

• Quarterly meetings to communicate successes and lessons

learned

• At the 1 and 2 year marks, we will gather data

– Absenteeism, EFAP utilization, STD and LTD stats to measure

changes

– Survey staff satisfaction